Chef at the University Canteen-Chapter 462 - 270: Hope Your Parents Don’t Blame Me for Fattening You Up
In the philosophy department, there are mostly girls; seven or eight fashionable young women were gathered under the School of Humanities building, chatting away, their conversations often punctuated by bursts of bell-like laughter.
Meanwhile, on the other side, a few boys gathered in a corner, puffing clouds of smoke while chatting:
"They always say graduation equals unemployment. We didn’t take it seriously before, but now we finally understand! This half year outside has been nothing but setbacks, and I still haven’t found a suitable job. If I’d known, I might’ve just bitten the bullet and studied for graduate school!"
"You’re making it sound like getting into grad school is easy. If it were that simple, everyone would be deepening their studies, wouldn’t they?"
"When young and vigorous, not striving leads to regrets in old age! If I had been a bit more serious when I first entered university, instead of playing games and chasing girls every day, perhaps I could have secured a spot for recommended exemption into grad school. Looking back now, it’s too late for regrets!"
"Hehe, you probably don’t know this? Besides the class monitor and a few girls with excellent grades, Jiang Yu has also secured grad school placement! By the second half of the year, he’ll officially be a graduate student at Jiang University!"
"Him? His grades were even worse than mine! On what grounds?"
"On the grounds that he cooks really well. You seriously didn’t know? The Seventh Dining Hall he runs at school has been tempting countless people daily with its food!"
"Honestly, Jiang Yu’s dishes are genuinely delicious! After returning to campus yesterday, I had dinner there. Initially, I wasn’t feeling well and couldn’t eat much. But as soon as I got a whiff of the Seventh Dining Hall’s food, my mouth started watering. I ended up eating half a kilo of rice and five dishes! It stuffed me so much..."
"Is it really that tasty?! Hey, Lao Wang, you share a dorm with Jiang Yu, how about talking to him when he comes by, and asking if he could treat everyone to a meal? Let’s find out what the food really tastes like!"
"I don’t have the guts for that, if you want to ask, do it yourself!"
"..."
...
At the Seventh Dining Hall, in the first-floor kitchen.
Even though today was his graduation thesis defense, Jiang Yu didn’t rush to the School of Humanities. Instead, as usual on a weekend, he went to the first-floor kitchen early in the morning to help out.
Lately, more and more fourth-year students were returning, and consequently, more people were coming here for breakfast, making it like lunch and dinner, with breakfast starting to sell out.
Luckily, this situation would only last a short while. If not, the Seventh Dining Hall would need to hire more chefs.
Busy until seven o’clock, the dining hall began operations, and only then did Jiang Yu sit down, ready for a good break.
Lu Shuwu saw this and couldn’t help but ask:
"Boss, didn’t you say you had your defense today? Why are you still here?"
"The defense officially starts at eight-thirty, what’s the rush?"
Jiang Yu picked up a cup, took a sip of water, and sighed with relief, saying calmly,
"You know how lazy I am. Going over too early means dealing with a bunch of people asking about this and that, exhausting!"
"Hehe! Isn’t that normal?"
Lu Shuwu was holding a bowl of porridge, drinking it while smiling, he said,
"If I were your classmate, I’d be curious too! For others, graduation means unemployment; for you, it means hitting the peak. Wouldn’t I quickly ask how you managed to rise up?"
"Oh, come on, running a small dining hall is called hitting the peak?"
Jiang Yu scoffed, casually saying, "At best, I’m just muddling through life."
While they were chatting, Hu Zhihai’s voice came floating over from afar:
"Lao Jiang, have you had breakfast yet? If you have, wait for me a bit; I’m having breakfast, and then we’ll head to the college together!"
Following the sound, Jiang Yu glanced over and saw Hu Zhihai, wearing formal attire, all spruced up, bustling in from the entrance.
He asked with a surprised look, "Fatty, it’s just a graduation defense, do you need to dress like this?"
"Formal wear! This is formal wear!"
Hu Zhihai walked up to Jiang Yu in a few strides, seriously said,
"Graduation defense is a formal occasion; to show respect towards the defense professors, one must wear formal attire! Understand?"
After saying this, he puffed up his chest, adjusted his shirt collar, a proud smile crossing his face,
"How about it? Do I look handsome?"
Jiang Yu sized him up slowly and said, "Handsome or not, I don’t know, but you are quite fat."
"So vulgar!" Hu Zhihai pouted, adding, "You’re jealous!"
"Alright, enough pointless talk, hurry up and eat."
Jiang Yu stood up from his seat, stretched lazily, smiled, and said,
"After eating, I’ll go upstairs to shower, rinse off all this sweat, so I don’t stink around others, that wouldn’t be nice."
Both chuckling, they each grabbed some tableware, went to the front window where Ma Guoqiang served them a portion of cold rice noodles, and brought it to the private room to eat.
Once he’d finished the rice noodles, Jiang Yu grabbed a napkin to wipe his mouth, said to Hu Zhihai:
"Let’s not go too early, departing at eight is plenty, once you’re full, sit here for a bit, I’m going up to change clothes."
"Alright, go on then, I haven’t had enough yet."
Hu Zhihai replied, ignoring Jiang Yu, continuing to eat intently.
Just one portion of cold noodles wouldn’t fill him up, right?
He needs at least a basket of soup dumplings and a bowl of congee with preserved egg and lean pork!
